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2LP
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KOM 419LP
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Double LP version. It's taken Yotam Avni a little while to get to his debut album; almost a decade, really, since his debut 12", That's What The World Needs (2012), on California's Seasons Limited imprint. During that time, the Tel-Aviv based producer has refined his productions, tightening the groove and paring everything back to bare essentials; the power in an Avni cut is its combination of piston-pulse propulsion and a deep, but gently applied, musicality. Avni's been on Kompakt's radar for a while, first appearing on the label last year, with his Speicher contribution (KOM EX109EP). The connection immediately made sense -- dance music that managed to feel both lush and streamlined across the same great gasp of late-night energy. But with Yotam Avni Was Here, he's taken a huge leap. After a brief intro, Avni sets his stall with "Beyond The Dance", which features slow-moving vocal melisma over sculptural, melting tonalities, a tintinnabulating, harpsichord-like two-note phrase pacing out the track. Then "It Was What It Was" comes into view, its strip-light textures suddenly placed into sharp relief by a muted trumpet figure that hangs in the air, melancholy and pensive. Avni's inspirations for Was Here are from the histories of both techno and jazz. "I wanted to try something more around Detroit Techno meets ECM," he reflects. "Carl Craig's Just Another Day EP (2004) and Kenny Larkin's Keys, Strings, Tambourines (2008) came out during my high school years and had huge impact on me." Avni continues, "I always wanted to go back to those hi-tek soul roots on a full album," he continues, and he explores that terrain with the sky-strafing brass on "Free Darius Now", Morse-code keys on "Vortex," and glitchy, microhouse tickles of "Know Hope" all contributing to an oblique narrative that seems to arc across Was Here -- one fleshed out by guest musicians, who include dOP and Georg Levin on vocals, and trumpets by Greg Paulus (Beirut, No Regular Play). The cover art makes the jazz connection explicit, riffing on the text-based, minimal design of The Modern Jazz Quartet's 1955 album for Prestige, Concorde. The way Avni has gathered around him both inspiring musicians and intriguing reference points makes you think of his broader career as well. The openness of his productions, which seem to be all about the multiple, the possibilities of cross-pollination, of fusing this with that, of adding and subtracting, all under the pulsating thumbprint of techno.
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CD
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KOMP 157CD
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It's taken Yotam Avni a little while to get to his debut album; almost a decade, really, since his debut 12", That's What The World Needs (2012), on California's Seasons Limited imprint. During that time, the Tel-Aviv based producer has refined his productions, tightening the groove and paring everything back to bare essentials; the power in an Avni cut is its combination of piston-pulse propulsion and a deep, but gently applied, musicality. Avni's been on Kompakt's radar for a while, first appearing on the label last year, with his Speicher contribution (KOM EX109EP). The connection immediately made sense -- dance music that managed to feel both lush and streamlined across the same great gasp of late-night energy. But with Yotam Avni Was Here, he's taken a huge leap. After a brief intro, Avni sets his stall with "Beyond The Dance", which features slow-moving vocal melisma over sculptural, melting tonalities, a tintinnabulating, harpsichord-like two-note phrase pacing out the track. Then "It Was What It Was" comes into view, its strip-light textures suddenly placed into sharp relief by a muted trumpet figure that hangs in the air, melancholy and pensive. Avni's inspirations for Was Here are from the histories of both techno and jazz. "I wanted to try something more around Detroit Techno meets ECM," he reflects. "Carl Craig's Just Another Day EP (2004) and Kenny Larkin's Keys, Strings, Tambourines (2008) came out during my high school years and had huge impact on me." Avni continues, "I always wanted to go back to those hi-tek soul roots on a full album," he continues, and he explores that terrain with the sky-strafing brass on "Free Darius Now", Morse-code keys on "Vortex," and glitchy, microhouse tickles of "Know Hope" all contributing to an oblique narrative that seems to arc across Was Here -- one fleshed out by guest musicians, who include dOP and Georg Levin on vocals, and trumpets by Greg Paulus (Beirut, No Regular Play). The cover art makes the jazz connection explicit, riffing on the text-based, minimal design of The Modern Jazz Quartet's 1955 album for Prestige, Concorde. The way Avni has gathered around him both inspiring musicians and intriguing reference points makes you think of his broader career as well. The openness of his productions, which seem to be all about the multiple, the possibilities of cross-pollination, of fusing this with that, of adding and subtracting, all under the pulsating thumbprint of techno.
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12"
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KOM EX109EP
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Yotam Avni has been a long fixture of the Tel-Aviv nightlife scene, well known internationally thanks to releases on Ovum, Innervisions, and Hotflush. Kompakt welcome him to their Speicher series with three unlikely cuts. "Mañana Mañana" swells with a mid-90s prowess that echo the earliest of Kompakt's days in the best of ways. "Track For Agoria" thrives from the method of true minimal techno but abstractedly brought into harmony with bells and tweaking synths. "Heavy Lifting" is righteously led by a soaring synth that envelops itself into snap dragon snares and washed out hi-hats,
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12"
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SA 032EP
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The Tel-Aviv centered Yotam Avni returns to Stroboscopic Artefacts with Perlude To Dybbuk. "Avka (New Life)" opens with the twin stimuli of chthonic, rolling percussion and ambience, and later includes sharp, organic drum fills and sighing strings. "Dybbuk" uses insistently slicing helicopter as a foundation, building a genuinely unique construction with shamanic beats, throttled horn, and an undertow of frenzied electronics. "Modern Matters" is the most readily club-friendly selection. This potent, floor-shaking and perspiration-inducing number superimposes resonant vocals from traditional Middle Eastern folk song onto this alchemical mixture of machine oil and sweat.
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12"
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SA 029EP
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Israeli producer Yotam Avni returns with Tehillim. The galloping rhythm of "Tehillim" brings a whole inventory of struck wood and metal elements into play, and leads listeners on an voyage through liturgical chanting and volcanic eruptions of synthesizer magma. "Orma", while more stripped down, continues down the same path with clever spatial arrangements. "Shtok" begins with a deep subterranean kick pattern and percolating bell tones that are reminiscent of recent efforts from Planetary Assault Systems. The closer "Even" brings the EP's most forceful and demanding beat, overlaid by a shimmering latticework of piano, breeze-like pads, and concentrated string plucks.
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12"
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OVM 259EP
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Israeli producer Yotam Avni follows killer cuts for the likes of Robsoul, Be as One, and Osunlade's Yoruba Records with "This Is How," bursting in with a clipped but swollen kick drum before a vocal snippet chimes in through a mesh of bass. The break kicks the driving rhythm up a notch, mixing Avni's trademark uplifting house with galvanized, toughened techno beats. Steve Rachmad's remix sits dry flanges, acid stabs, and filtered analog synths atop a frenetic hi-hat for a bass-less but high-impact smasher. The hypnotic, wavering acid synth lines and muted kick drums of "Bbbooy Skat" ignite into a techno roller.
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12"
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BAO 049EP
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Be As One Imprint presents another young and bright producer with a promising career ahead of him. Yotam Avni's unique approach to music didn't take long to catch the attention of Be As One, who immediately brought him on board. Avni debuts on the Israeli label with an EP that reflects how he sees techno: dark, raw, pumping, relentless. The A-side, "UR Sleeping," is emotional and melodic, and it's backed by the Detroit-inspired "Better Days." Timeless techno once again on BAO.
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